Sekiro translations

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, translation errors/oddities
For /ssdtg/ and /dsg/ on 4chan

The following is copied from various posts in /ssdtg/, slightly cleaned up:
https://boards.fireden.net/vg/thread/248971461/#248987904
https://boards.fireden.net/vg/thread/248971461/#248987985
https://boards.fireden.net/vg/thread/249004572/#249011901
https://boards.fireden.net/vg/thread/249004572/#249012269

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Regarding general lore
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"Fountainhead waters" is made up. The original word is "ochimizu" which is a real thing from Japanese mythology, a magic medicine/water said to bring youth. Basically a Japanese fountain of youth myth.
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%89%E8%8B%A5%E6%B0%B4

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Regarding NPCs
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Changing Ema (a real Japanese name) to Emma (a foreign name) for no reason

Memorial Mob: 供養衆
供養 is the act of making an offering to the dead. "Memorial" seems to come from online web dictionaries translating it to "memorial service."
"Mob" is a translation of 衆/shuu which is a group of people in medieval Japan, like the ninjas belonging to a specific lord would be his shinobi-shuu, or the purple ninjas being known by their name, Koei, called the Koei-shuu.
The "shuu" (translated to mob) is unnecessary in English. If translated properly it'd be somethiing like "the offerers" maybe with a fancier word for "offerer". Something equally funeral-like would also work.

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Regarding Lady Butterfly and the cutscene before her boss fight
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Lady Butterfly is called "Maboroshi O-Chou" in Japanese, with Maboroshi meaning phantom/illusion. So strictly speaking she should be Phantom Butterfly, but the "Phantom" was changed to "Lady" by Activision.

In the preceding cutscene, where Wolf snaps Kuro out of the illusion and sends him away, the original Japanese is as such:

Wolf: "Go."
Kuro: "But what about you?"
Wolf: "I will do what must be done."

In English, it's translated to:

Wolf: "Leave us." (no servant in this era would speak to their master like this)
Kuro: "Who are you?" (what the actual fuck)
Wolf: "Go do what must be done." (not just mistranslated but a nonsensical non-sequitur even IN the context of the translation)

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Regarding various enemies and mini-bosses
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Translating the Koei-shu to Lone Shadows when there's a ton of them and it's a name (see Memorial Mob above)

"Shichimen Warrior" is left as-is, when Shichimen literally means "Seven Faces." So instead of having a name that just sounds bizarre for the sake of it, they should be called "Seven-Faced Samurai" or "Seven-Faced Warrior."

"Long-arm Centipede Giraffe" is supposed to be Jirafu, an archaic Japanese name. Like with Ema, the translators seem to have been operating on the mindset that katakana = foreign name so they "translated" it, except that plenty of Japanese names in that era were written in katakana, and in this very game all the Snake Eyes like Shirahagi have their names written in katakana too.

Desiccated corpses: mis-translation/straight up name change of sokushinbutsu:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokushinbutsu
They're not corpses, they're living mummy Buddhists.

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Regarding bosses
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Guardian Ape's name is 獅子猿, which is "Lion Ape" in Japanese. The translation makes it seem like he was put there to guard something grand and important, rather than simply cultivating a flower to attract a mate.

Also, when talking to the Gun Fort Cannoneer right before the dual apes fight, he says, "My neck... my neck..." before dying. In the original Japanese, he's referring to the giant ape's neck rather than his own, meaning that it only has a neck and no head. This is supposed to tip you off that you're about to fight a rematch with the Guardian Ape, rather than taking on an entirely different one.


The monkey gimmick boss was called "Seeing Monkey, Hearing Monkey, Speaking Monkey," in Japanese, with that last comma clearly alluding to the invisible monkey just like the blank folding screen. But then Activision just translated it as "Folding Screen Monkeys."

Hakaisou translated to Corrupted Monk implying supernatural corruption with the fountainhead waters when hakaisou were REAL SENGOKU ERA MONKS and all it means is a monk who abandoned their teachings.

The Divine Dragon is called "Sakura Dragon" in Japanese, which is supposed to be the major connection with the sakura-smelling incense and the Everblossom behind the castle.

Calling Ema "the gentle blade" when 柔剣 is her fighting style and not her title, and 柔 in this case is meant to be the opposite of 剛 as in 柔よく剛を制す so it's saying she's using the sword equivalent of Judo.